DHEC strikes out once and for all in Beaufort County

When life is fair, the South Carolina Legislature will act as any good umpire would and call strike three “you’re outta here” on the South Carolina Department of Health and Environment Control for three actions or decisions they have taken to the detriment of the Lowcountry.

This department, that appears to have a $566 million budget for 2012, has consistently failed to meet the needs of our region on three fronts and deserves to be kicked out of the game. Yes, a half a billion dollars a year, even the Pentagon would be impressed with these sorts of numbers.

Strike one, their continued inability to protect our rivers and streams. Despite these massive amounts of monies available to them, the bulk of the funding being supplied to restore the May and Okatie Rivers, which were allowed to deteriorate on their watch, comes from local stormwater taxes or federal grants and the majority of the work being done is by either Beaufort County staff or the town of Bluffton. In the meantime, they diddle around with measurements such as Total Maximum Daily Load, TMDL, which they themselves refuse to enforce by continuing to permit new marinas along the waterways.

Strike two comes with the DHEC board approving the deepening of the Savannah River against all recommendations coming from most experts not living in the state of Georgia. Not only will this action invariably move the salt water line farther up the mouth of the river endangering our fresh water supply, but it effectively kills any hope of the construction of the Jasper Port closer to the ocean, say goodbye to a real economic development opportunity this side of the river. What does South Carolina get out of this deal, the dumping of dredged material on our side of the river on land owned by the state of Georgia, great negotiating on our behalf?

Strike three and hopefully the heave ho out of the game, comes with the DHEC denial of a certificate of need for the Hilton Head Hospital to build an outpatient center off U.S. 278 and Buck Island Road under the guise that if projections are not achieved, the financial feasibility of the project is called into question. So what, has DHEC brought Milton Friedman back to life and hired him as an investment counselor?

If the hospital board, which I assume has studied the economic feasibility of the project and determined this is something they want to do to improve health care in the region and hopefully make money out of it at the same time, who is DHEC to pick winners and losers in this game.

I would say DHEC should butt out and do what they are good at, but I am increasingly unsure what that is except getting large budget allocations from the State.